Denon 6500 - Am I crazy?

Elliot mentioned about about the center channel. Maybe set you receiver to not have a center and let the front two speakers be the phantom center. You will be amazed how good the front end sounds especially when you get a good amp for your two channel setup. Also Bose is great for the center speaker due to it is all midrange. People sell those little cubes individually pretty cheep  On EBay so you can give it a try and keep
it hidden like he said. Let the receiver balance out the front for you with the built in room correction. 

Thanks for so many great comments.  

One question I had was, @hshifi said

For music side do two sealed subs. 

I might be dense, but if doing 2-channel stereo this wouldn't be available.  I assume he meant if using a AVR with 5.2 or 7.2?

So, I think I'm leaning toward the Rega Planar 6 and Elicit-R.  I can then grow my HT around that if I want.  Now I just got to figure out two Floorstanding units that are impressive but won't break the bank (i.e. < $2k)

Hello,
You can add subwoofers for two channel stereo. If your two channel preamp does not have a subwoofer option you can run your speaker wires from your amplifier to most subwoofers and another set of speaker wires to your front L/R speakers and use the crossover controls on the subwoofers to decide what you want the frequency cutoff to be. A popular place is 50 hz as long as your front speakers can do 50hz. REL, SVS are a few popular names but even cheaper lines have this option. This way your fronts do not have to work as hard and get a lot more detail since they are not trying to go down to 20hz but most speakers bottom is 30-40hz. I prefer sealed subs for music since they produce more detail. The ported subs are great for home theater to get the room shaking with less power.

The second set of speaker wires go from the subwoofer to your speakers. That way when you change the volume the subs follow. Rega P6 is a great TT so is VPI. If you do the Rega do your research on the cartridge. Some carts pick up him from the motor when they get closer. I still would love to have the Rega P6. Best value in the Rega line. 

For a basement system like that, personally, I would pick up an array of the Crown amps, they sound great for movies or music.

prices are. Great, and the Crown amps will drive about %80 of mos speakers. Headroom, power, clean , reliable.

Search around this and other forums, those Crown amps are great!
Great sound and save money.
Work smart, not hard.

I’m a 2 ch guy only, good amps, and speakers which many call junk. YOUR EARS are the judge! No one else’s.

the Crown amps sound great, are reliable, easy to install and use.

or the QSC amps are good too, but have heard reliability issues!


Skip the high dollar amps, and try the Crowns for a basement surround system. Would b my choice for an installation like your talking about.
Have fun shopping and listening to amps etc.

the more power you have, the more headroom, and ease of clarity you will get from speakers.

 140W is ok, but you won’t get the slam, or detail needed for song/movie ending crescendo’s.  
 In my 30+ years of audio gear, I’ve only found rapture with 300WPC min!
you will need the headroom, and you will want to jam some tunes in 2ch, and 140W no matter what is not enough!

 Spend now, get enough power for your system, or go with the 140W and regret it the first time you want to “push” your volume for your fav song, and the map clips and you blow a tweeter or midrange

  sure 140W will sound fine at low to moderate volume, but you will want to show off your new addiction, to friends, family, buddies, etc!

  B&W’s are amazing, and you will need the juice to make them sound their best.  

 Speaking from 30+ years of experience.